Icahn Buys MGM Studios' Debt, Presses for a Lions Gate Merger

By

Mike Spector And

Lauren A.E. Schuker

Updated Oct. 1, 2010 12:01 a.m. ET

Billionaire investor Carl Icahn bought a significant chunk of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc.'s debt and is pushing the beleaguered film studio to merge with rival Lions Gate Entertainment Corp., said people familiar with the matter.